Parks
Fairmount Park
Technically, Fairmount Park covers all of the city parks in Philadelphia such as Pennypack Park in the northeast and Wissahickon Valley Park in the northwest, but the name also refers more specifically to the large park on both sides of the Schuykill River northwest of Center City. East Fairmount Park is home to the Smith Memorial Playground, Dell East Concerts, and a driving range. West Fairmount Park, much of which has been renamed The Centennial District, includes the Mann Music Center where The Philadelphia Orchestra plays in summer, the Japanese TeaHouse, Please Touch Museum for kids in a restored Memorial Hall from the nation's Centennial celebration. Wisshickon Valley is just that, with many hiking trails, the Valley Green Inn a picturesque place to eat, and a walking/biking, horeseback riding trail know as the Forbidden Drive.
Clark Park
Clark Park is an outdoor music and arts festival area in West Philadelphia.
LOVE Park
A square near City Hall, known for its Robert Indiana "LOVE" sculpture and for attracting skateboarders from around the world despite a ban on skating in the park. Since 2002, this ban has been rigorously enforced. Free wireless access is now available in the park.
Rittenhouse Square
One southwest of William Penn's original "five squares" of public, open space in the city, Rittenhouse Square sits among classic and classy Rittenhouse hotels and residences and attracts people from around the world. It is named after David Rittenhouse, a clockmaker and astronomer. Today, you can find Rittenhouse Row, where there are tons of places nearby to eat, stay and take in the arts and culture of Philadelphia. Some places to eat are are: gelato and sorbetti shop Capogiro, Starr restaurant Continental and the Marathon Grill. Lodging includes the Four Seasons Hotel, AKA Rittenhouse Square, Rittenhouse Hotel, and the Ritz-Carlton. Cultural hot spots are the Kimmel Center, Wilma Theater, Prince Music Theater and the Philadelphia Horticultural Society. Another activity that one can take part in when in Rittenhouse is shopping. Some places include Barnes & Noble Booksellers with a Starbucks Cafe inside on the 3rd floor, Armani Exchange, Philadelphia Runner, Guess, and just a few blocks away is the Liberty Place.
Museums
Center City West is home to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Academy of Natural Sciences, Franklin Institute Science Museum, Mutter Museum, Rosenbach Museum & Library and Rodin Museum. Center City East is home to the African American Museum, and Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia History. Old City is home to the National Museum of American Jewish History and Independence Seaport Museum. West Philly is home to the Please Touch Museum.
The Palestra
Philadelphia is known for its rich college basketball history, and the Palestra, located on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, is a museum of the Philadelphia Big 5 programs La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph's, Temple, and Villanova. The arena serves as the home court for the Penn Quakers basketball team and is the court for many basketball games between the city's colleges.
Rare Book Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia
If you're into rare books at all, take the free tour, offered at 11AM M-F, of the Philadelphia Free Library's amazing rare book collection. Besides the Gutenberg Bible, highlights include medieval manuscripts, children's book illustrations, and the stuffed body of Charles Dickens's pet raven Grip, the raven who indirectly inspired Poe's "The Raven."
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
This museum houses an impressive collection of Egyptian and Greco-Roman artifacts.
Historic sites
Eastern State Penitentiary
"America's Most Historic Prison." It is also the site of an annual Bastille Day recreation. In October, the notoriously haunted penitentiary is home to one of the city's most popular Halloween attraction: the "Terror Behind the Walls" haunted house. This site is accessible by subway Fairmount stop as well as the 33 or 48 bus from Center City.
Fairmount Water Works
Features information on local watersheds as well as interpretive art.
Independence National Historic Park
Philadelphia's signature historic site in Old City features the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Constitution Hall home of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. It also features historic buildings from the city's revolutionary past, approximately 20 of which are open to the public.
Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site
The former home of the famous American author of mystery and the macabre.
Philadelphia is a huge city, so all individual listings should be moved to the appropriate district articles, and this section should contain a brief overview. Please help to move listings if you are familiar with this city.
Travelers planning to visit multiple attractions may benefit from Philadelphia CityPASS (http://www.citypass.com/p...), which grants admission to 6 Philadelphia attractions within 9 days of first use for a much reduced rate and includes expedited entry in some cases. The included attractions are: The Franklin Institute; Adventure Aquarium; Phila Trolley & The Big Bus Company, 24 hours of on-off privileges; Philadelphia Zoo; Option Ticket One with choice of either The Academy of Natural Sciences or the National Constitution Center and Option Ticket Two with choice of Please Touch Museum or Eastern State Penitentiary. A Weekend in Philly offers a detailed itinerary that includes several of these attractions.
public art
Much of Philadelphia's art requires not a dollar to see and not a building to enter. Philadelphia has the largest collection of public art in the nation, courtesy of the city's innovative Mural Arts Program (http://www.muralarts.org), designed to stop graffiti and enliven the city's buildings. They even provide a free tour. (http://muralarts.org/expl...) Other public art of note includes the many glass mosaics found throughout the city; a sampling of this great public art can be seen on South St. east of Broad.
Center city Philadelphia offers many public statue displays. "The Clothespin" is a sculpture by Claes Oldenburg that resembles a clothespin located just across from City Hall on West Market St. LOVE Park, serving as a terminus between City Hall and the museum-laden Benjamin Franklin Pkwy., features a famous LOVE statue that has come to represent the brotherly love that Philadelphia was founded on. The site once was the city's and perhaps the nation's most popular skating attraction until new legislation and remodeling efforts outlawed skating in the park. Just across the JFK Blvd. from City Hall at the Municipal Services Building, visitors can find many larger than life game pieces from popular board games as well as a statue of former mayor Frank Rizzo.
More statues can be found throughout Fairmount Park (http://www.fpaa.org) along Kelly Dr. on east side of the Schuykill River. Sculptures by Remmington can be found on the path, while several sculptures by Alexander Milne Calder can be found in Laurel Hill Cemetery (http://www.thelaurelhillc...), which is located just off the paved walking path.